United States v. Scheffer

Even before Scheffer, the use of polygraph evidence was on shaky ground. Thus Biskupic in the Washington Post noted that some 30 states already prohibited the introduction of polygraph evidence in court, "and some legal experts said [the Scheffer decision] may prompt the states that do not have outright prohibitions to consider imposing them." On the other hand, an official with the American Polygraph Association told Biskupic that the Court's opinion "represents an ongoing debate," and Biskupic herself noted that the Kennedy opinion suggested "that perhaps in the future another dispute might offer a more compelling case for the introduction of polygraph testimony." With regard to the other issue addressed in Scheffer, the less prominent but ultimately more significant question regarding exclusionary rules of evidence, future directions on the Court's part are less clear.